


Detail the Relationship

by orphan_account



Series: A Series Of Two Friends [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Elementary School, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Jason Todd, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd Feels, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason is a Dork, Jason-centric, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Male-Female Friendship, Original Character Death(s), Protective Jason Todd, Rated Teen for Jason's Mouth, Starvation, Swearing, Underage Smoking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22453642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Juliette Adams is just trying to navigate through her life in Gotham City. That is until she meets a boy, who's a mess of dark curls and knowing smirks. It's a painstaking process, trying to go through life, but he makes it a bit more difficult.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Original Female Character(s)
Series: A Series Of Two Friends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615678
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Detail the Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> Lemme just say that I and my friend are full of bullshit. But anyway, what if Jason had a sister? Well, yeah that's basically this but he doesn't know it. It might seem weird but it's actually not so bad (hopefully) we get to dig into Jason and what his life really was from his perspective and Juliettes as they both grow up together.

Ah yes, the first day of Wayne Elementary. Exciting. Juliette looked up at her social worker, Mrs. Michaels, who was currently speaking with the teacher. She wondered why she was so paranoid about this whole thing. Ever since her latest foster parent had fallen ill, there had been nothing but chaos in Juliette’s life. She peeked through the crack of her classroom door and found the children quietly conversing with each other. 

  


”How does that sound, Juliette?” Her teacher bent down with a gentle smile. Juliette blinked, ”Yeah, yeah.” 

  


Cause she had definitely heard every word they said. Yep. 

  


Mrs. Michaels gave a hesitant smile before standing up, ”You'll have the bus take you home alright?”

  


”I know,” Juliette said impatiently.

  


Her eye twitched before she sighed. ”Have a good day, okay?”

  


”I will.”

  


The teacher, Miss Anna, if Juliette remembered correctly, took her hand. ”Welcome to 1st grade, Miss Juliette. Please take your seat next to... Emily and Kate,” Miss Anna pointed at a blonde and a brunette, giving a good-natured push towards the table.

  


Juliette quietly took her seat, ”Hey.”

  


”Hi! I'm Emily!” She smiled widely, even though the teacher had begun handing out the work. She nudged the girl beside her, who waved shyly. ”I’m Kate.”

  


Juliette felt the day fly by her before lunch happened, and everything got calmer. She felt obligated to sit beside Emily and Kate, even if she didn't speak much. She wasn't that interested in their sudden and rising interest in boys, so she focused on her 3$ meal of chicken fingers and baby carrots. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a boy sitting in the corner, no food before him. She felt horrible, considering he looked about two sizes too small for his uniform. He could feel her staring, not that Juliette realized she was, and he glared at her before he raised an eyebrow. His surprise was replaced with confusion as he furrowed his brows, and looked away, glaring at the empty space before him.

  


_ Weird,  _ Juliette thought, before returning to her chocolate milk, her thoughts were drowned out by the chattering of children. Again the day passed in a blur of different faces and homework assignments. For some reason, she couldn't forget that  _ kid's _ face, how he looked at her weirdly and then glared at the table. The bus pulled up to the school, and she stood in line to board. That's when she saw them. Those disgruntled blue eyes glaring at her as she stood in line. His stares didn't last long, as he boarded the bus, disappearing from her view. Juliette frowned,  _ what was his deal? _

  


As the bus left her on the corner, she made her way to her foster mother's apartment. She guessed it was unfair, calling her a foster mother, but she had been between 5 different orphanages and 4 foster couples. The last family ditched her on the side of the road- the bastards we're moving to Central City and decided they couldn't afford another mouth to feed- so they left her. Juliette didn't cry. In fact, she didn't remember the last time she had. Her first foster parents absolutely despised when she cried. After the third punishment, she learned to bite her tongue and keep it inside. 

  


The point? She never got attached. Some might say it was unhealthy for a young girl to be so…Isolated from human care. Well, try telling that to her mother, who had given her up when she was born. She learned young that life was not gentle, and definitely not caring. It was a dog-eat-dog world, and she didn't plan on letting herself end up like many of the kids that had been chewed up and spit out in the pavement. 

  


Such a sunny personality for an 8-year-old, but let's be real, she had never been given the chance to be a child. Juliette opened the door, setting her backpack on the table, she walked to the fridge and popped open a juice box.

  


”Julie? Is that you?” A woman's voice called. It was her foster mother, Charlotte Adams. Juliette sighed, ”Yeah, it's me.”

  


She walked to the small bedroom and found her ’mother’ lying in bed, pale as a corpse. That didn't stop her from smiling.

  


”How was the first day of school, hun?" Juliette reluctantly fell into her arms. For once in her life she allowed herself to be loved.

  


"Fine, pretty boring." She murmured, going through the stack of medical bills. Juliette set them down, "I gotta go shopping soon."

  


"I can buy groceries. You focus on school. This is a new life, alright? I've been feeling a bit better." Lies. Pretty lies, but still.

  


Juliette shrugged, clasping the juice box in her hands. "Alright, Mom."

  


Her mother leaned back and closed her eyes, soon she was asleep. Good. Juliette grabbed her jacket and walked out the door quietly, making her way through the streets. The sun was high in the sky, littered by a few stray clouds. The pungent city air, the blaring of angry drivers on their way back from work?

  


Ah yes, Gotham was her home.

  


Her mission was nearly over as she trotted down the sidewalk, heading towards the Martha Wayne library, provided by yours truly -like everything else in the damned city- Bruce Wayne. Aptly named after his deceased mother, the library was a fresh installment in her life. She used to read everything she could get her hands on. Magazines, books, pamphlets, you name it. The one thing her mind craved was knowledge, in a sense. And in another way, it was a sort of escape from her poor excuse of a life. She waited for the light to change, before rushing across the street, because y' know, cars.

  


Once she stepped inside the library, she immediately headed to the adult section, having outgrown books like Huckleberry Finn. She opened a copy of Frankenstein and settled into the nook they had installed around for convenience, and sighed.

  


_ Thank God Mister Wayne has the decency to give us some comfortable chairs. _ Juliette had read up to the point where Dr. Frankenstein brought his monster to life before she fell asleep, book cradled in her arms. 

  
  


<p align="center"> === </p>

  
  
  


Jason had barely pulled out his book when his stomach growled in longing after a lack of lunch and breakfast. Unless you counted a cheese stick as breakfast, that is. He forced his mind to focus on his book, hardly forgetting the painful gnawing at his stomach. But for a moment he was distracted by thinking about that girl, her fiery hair, those blue eyes...

  


It's not like he  _ liked  _ her, hell she could have been seven or something. It's just that she looked an awful lot like his mother, who was dead now, by the way. For about four years.  _ No, 5? Had it been 5?  _ He never cared to remember.

  


So who was he shitting if he forgot the eyes she had gifted him until they were starting him in the face. Pretty sure he was hallucinating from lack of food by that point, but hell if he knew. Now he just felt haunted, which was just tremendously great. 

  


A word he remembered from a book he read a while back. He used it to explain his tremendous hate for things. He smirked to himself, too egotistical at this point to realize his jokes were crappy. Or just, y' know, starving. The sun had fully set now, so he decided to return his book and find some food.

  
  


<p align="center"> === </p>

  
  


Life moved on, things at Gotham Elementary were incredibly normal. Just the regular quarrels and the occasional oppressed child. 

  


_ Bullies _ . Juliette had never really tolerated that, not one bit. But then again she had never run into any, as she usually kept to herself. It was all so weird, growing up. Kate and Emily could talk about their favorite lip glosses forever, whereas Juliette couldn't wait to get home and find her sanctuary among books written hundreds of years ago.

  


Today she was feeling a bit more ballsy than usual. On her way home, she had picked up some lunch meat and bread, so she could make a sandwich and give the money to Sir Scowls-a-Lot -she believed this to be an appropriate name for him- She did this for two reasons.

  


One, she had felt the awful feeling of starvation. Your own body eating away at itself, crying out, begging for food. The burning and cramps were unbearable, and kids like them weren't unfamiliar to it. Or so she guessed, considering he never brought up his parents and he kinda looked like a walking skeleton. Two, she felt bad for him, in a small way, because no kid should go hungry. Ever.

  


As her mind continued to race, she didn't even notice where she was going, and of course, his locker was only a row away from her class door. Just perfect.

  


She bumped into him and expected to have him stumble or something but he had zero muscle on him but he merely turned around, ready to kill, given the look in his eyes. Juliette bit her lip as his expression faded from anger to annoyance.

  


"Watch where you're going,  _ Kid _ ." He hissed, slamming his locker door and stomping away. Juliette looked at the digits _ -Locker 142, got it _ \- before looking to him.

  


"Sorry." She muttered, gathering her lunch. She cautiously waited for him to turn down the hallway, before trying to slip the money in his locker. She paused. _ What if he doesn't stop by his locker? _

  


_ Well shit. _

  


Juliette sighed, before blinking owlishly, a smile appearing on her face. If you knew Juliette well, which hardly anyone did, you would know she had come up with a plan. They had an assembly today. Maybe, just maybe, she could slip the money to him or whatever. Her planning didn't end, even as she sat down for math class.

  


Assembly time finally came, and Emily dragged Juliette and Kate by the hand, "Come on!"

  


She was way too hyped for a stupid assembly. That's when Juliette spotted him, he was sitting far off, next to a few other boys his age, scowl still etched on his face. 

  


Juliette pulled away, "I should, uh, I gotta go to the bathroom! Right, the uh, bathroom, I'll be right back, okay?"

  


Emily shrugged, "Okay!"

  


_ Thank God for oblivious children, _ Juliette thought, even though she was a child, she was in no way oblivious. She slipped down to where the boy was sitting, and sat behind him quietly, waiting for the vice principal to finish her speech or whatever. If she has been paying attention, she would have learned about the integration of grades due to budget cuts, and the lack of funding since their school was closing down. But she wasn't listening because she was too busy thinking of a way to give him the money.

  


"Well, that's our news students, please return to your classes. The integration starts tomorrow, " she finished, and the clamor of children walking startled Juliette out of her thoughts. 

  


"Crap." She muttered, he was already walking to the door, Emily and Kate were waving her over…

  


She rushed through the aisles, and in a moment of stupidity, she knocked into him. Emily gasped, "Oh gosh, Juliette are you okay!?"

  


The boy growled at her. " _ What the hell? _ " Juliette scrambled to get up, dropping the money near his hand. "Oh wow, I'm such a clutz, I'll be going now." She tittered, pulling Emily and Kate along with her.

"Why would you do that!? Don't you know who he is??" Kate whispered frantically, Juliette didn't listen as she carried her friends off to P.E.

  


_ Jesus Christ, that kid is weird.  _ Jason scoffed to brushing himself off, something caught his eye. A five-dollar bill sat on the floor, neatly folded. Begging to be picked up, really. Jason frowned, reaching down and putting it in his pocket, wondering if it had been there before? Nevermind that, at least he wouldn't be going hungry today. 

  


Apart from the banality of school, Juliette found little enjoyment in her life outside of school. Her mother had gotten much better recently, and was up and about the house, cooking some pasta for dinner. Juliette looked out her window, smirking at the thought of her plan. It had worked, she had seen him eating lunch, a bit ravenously. Of course, manners didn't apply to most when you were starving and a child.

  


"Honey, I'm gonna have to pack your lunch, the check hasn't come in from work yet." Her mom called from the kitchen.

  


Juliette froze, setting down her pencil she slammed a hand to her forehead.  _ Shit. _

  


"Okay, mom!" She yelled back scrambling off her bed and digging through her drawers.  _ This is just great, no spare cash. _

  


Wait, why was she freaking out? She helped him once, so why was she so paranoid? Juliette felt her stomach grumble, and she sighed. She knew why. Not long ago she had been starving, doing things that were less than respectable to get some food. Sometimes even that wasn't enough, and she often turned to anything to help fill her stomach. Not her best times. 

  


Dinner was quiet, as usual. The occasional 'how was school?' and the accompanying 'fine' was somewhat tiring after being asked the same question every day. Not that Juliette would complain, she was very proud of her mom for bouncing back so quickly and returning to her therapeutic work. Yes, she was a therapist, but between her own medical bills and life stuff, there wasn't room for frivolous spending, especially not for feeding another mouth. 

  


"It's your birthday coming up soon, right?" 

  


_ And speaking of a waste of money. _

  


Juliette blinked, no one had ever remembered that not that she had lived with one family long enough for them to care, but... 

  


"I guess it is." She picked at her peas, before taking a small bite.

  


"Well, I've got a check coming in- what if we threw a little party for you and your classmates?" She smiled gently. That was a lot. About 20 kids to feed, and she wanted to throw her a party?

  


"Really?" Juliette asked skeptically, nose twitching. "There are 20 of us."

  


Her mother waved it off, "It's alright. We can buy pizza and some cake. Just give me a headcount a few days before your birthday, and I'll talk to your teacher about it."

  


Juliette wanted to be angry, really she did. This woman who had nearly died and hadn't even been her foster mom for more than a month, wanted to celebrate  _ her _ ? It was ridiculous but all she did was nod, the pasta felt like glue in her throat. She finally finished getting homework, and lie in her bed, staring at the lone star that was bright enough to penetrate through Gotham's haze. Slowly, the star disappeared as her eyes closed, drifting off to sleep.

  


<p align="center"> === </p>

  
  


She woke up to sunshine, which was abnormal for October, but the dark clouds rolling in from the east were signs of a coming storm. Now  _ that _ seemed more appropriate for an October day. It was crisp, and Juliette's mother bundled her in a red coat she had bought for her. She didn't like the color red, mostly because her hair was fiery red, and all too much like her mother's. That's all she could remember as a baby, that she shared the same color as her mother's. It was strange really.

  


When she walked up to her classroom and was met with about 40 kids looking at her, she froze. Among the sea of children was  _ him, _ but  _ why? _

  


Miss Anna frowned in concern, "Miss Adams? What's wrong?"

  


Juliette's nose twitched again, "What's going on? Did I miss something?" 

  


Half the class burst out in laughter, except him, he just seemed mildly amused by her lack of awareness. This mildly pissed her off.

  


"Alright alright, quiet down class, " Miss Anna clapped her hands, still facing Juliette. "We've had to combine 1st through 3rd grade due to recent budget cuts."

  


"Mister Wayne couldn't afford to keep his future laborers in school?" The words slipped out of her tongue in a disdainful scoff before she realized what she said. 

  


The only person to snort was the boy. Good to know he agreed on something. Everyone knew it though, once you got out of high school they offered the most promising students a job at one of his places, interning and such. A lot of people lived off his money, which to be fair, he made it all back in like, .2 seconds, but still, she supposed it was a bit brash.

  


Miss Anna gave a tight smile. "Juliette, that wasn't very respectful of you. In fact, Mister Wayne is tearing this one down to build a newer, better school."

  


"What a saint," Juliette muttered, gripping her backpack straps.

  


Miss Anna sighed, tiredly gesturing to the boy. "Please take your seat by Mister Todd. Now, today we will be learning…" Juliette tuned out her voice.

  


_ Todd? That was his name? _ She guessed it would have been more… bad-boyish. She quietly took the other seat by him, feeling stupid for waking up late. Emily and Kate waved at her from across the room, giving almost apologetic looks. Juliette just shrugged, tapping her fingers quietly. She felt his gaze burning at the back of her head, and she fought the urge to turn and glare at him. It didn't last long, once their gazes met she almost felt offended. He was actually pretty good looking, as scrawny as he was. 

  


Wait, had she really just thought that?  _ What an all-time low,  _ she mused. Their stare-off lasted for about a solid 45 seconds before he turned away with a roll of his eye.  _ Yeah, that's right, Todd, _ she smirked triumphantly. Every so often he would glare at her, as one would glare at a riddle of some sort. 

  


Jason didn't even know this girl, but he was positive she was the one who dropped the money. It was unclear if it was an accident or if she had been a clutz, as she labeled herself before. Suddenly she caught him staring, and was glaring back, daring him to keep looking. Jason would admit, this little 1st grader had more balls than most, taking him on and such. He couldn't tell if he liked her or not.

  


The bell rang, dismissing them to free period. Most kids just hung out in groups around their lockers, but Juliette felt overwhelmed in the swarm of kids as she walked through the hallway. She was looking for Kate, but she could feel Todd keeping an eye on her as he leaned against his locker. 

  


That's when she saw Emily and Kate being pushed against their lockers, by two 3rd graders. She scowled. If there was one thing she hated, it was bullies.

  


She marched over to the two, calling out a, "Hey!"

  


The two boys turned around, still pinning her friends against the cold metal. Everyone watched quietly, as not many people stood up for others in this shitty school. 

  


"What do you want?" The tallest, Aiden, snarled. 

  


Juliette narrowed her eyes, "Get the hell away from my friends."

  


They laughed loudly, drawing Jason's attention to the scene. Juliette's bright red hair stood out in the group of brunettes and blondes. 

  


"Aw, the little girl wants to play with her friends? Well, they owe us, for knocking into us, " Aiden spat. "It was an accident-"

  


"Just like you." He snarled at Emily, who was beginning to cry.

  


Juliette pulled at his shirt, "If you don't let them go, I'll kick your ass."

  


She couldn't fully block his hand from flying into her face, into her mouth. Teeth cutting into her lips, she sat and the floor holding back her cry of pain.

  


"My bad, I was going for your face." Aiden snickered. Jason waited for her to burst into tears and run to the principal, but she merely looked at them with fire in her eyes.

  


"Nice job." She drawled, blood dripping down her chin. Before Aiden could reply she yanked him forward and punched him in the gut.  _ Well, that's new,  _ Jason's eyes widened a bit. 

  


"I'm sorry, I was aiming for your face," she mimicked angrily.

  


Aiden bent over and groaned. "You little brat." Juliette felt a pair of hands shove her into the lockers, cold metal against soft flesh. Not fun. She felt her head and in her ears, vision doubling over, she weakly groaned as she tried to glare at them.

  


"Let's see if I can hit you in the right place this time," Aiden said, raising his fist at her. Juliette flinched back, waiting for the blow, but it never came. She opened her eyes and found Jason holding his arm back in an awkward and painful way.

  


"Wow, let me go!" Aiden yelped, tears pricking at his eyes. Jason pushed him into his friend, staring at her all the while. "Don't pull this shit again."

  


He looked at Juliette, perplexed and angered again, but was swarmed by Emily and Kate. 

  


"Wow, you're so strong!"

  


"Thanks for helping!"

  


Juliette wiped at her mouth,  _ Good luck trying to explain this to mom. _ He was staring again, but she wasn't in the mood for his puzzling expressions and mood swings. She turned down the hall to the restroom and cleaned her lip, as it was already swelling.  _ Great. _ He had helped her a lot though. Practically saved her from those kids. She knew she would have been hurt pretty badly. The odds weren't in her favor, even if she did know how to throw a damn good punch. She stumbled put the restroom and turned back down the corner, running into him again.

  


She shook her head weakly but registered a small chuckle. "You like running into people or somethin'?"

  


Juliette glared but couldn't form a retort, she spotted her friends a few feet away, safe. She glanced at him, begrudgingly muttering her thanks, before walking away. More conflicting emotions crossed his features before they returned to a narrowing of his eyes. Juliette sighed, now she owed him. Some way, somehow she had to repay this. Which sucked.

  
  


<p align="center"> === </p>

  


It was that time, her birthday. It rolled around pretty soon, and her mother actually made plans for the whole class. Like, the whole 40 of them. Except one was missing, and it was him.  _ Todd. _ Yeah, he wasn't around, so that was interesting. She felt a bit miffed, really. It was Halloween too, mind you, and Juliette didn't see the point in missing out on free candy  _ and  _ free food. She had been actively searching for him because she owed him some gratitude, and then she would be debt-free. 

  


She was dressed as Wonder Woman this year because being the redhead batgirl seemed a bit cliche, and it was way too humid for leather. Of course, when she found him, he was dressed as Superman. I mean you could have fooled them, he had the eyes and that sharp jawline, so in all fairness, it was fitting. Except for the fact that he didn't smile. And as one strand of hair curled down, she realized that he couldn't have done this himself. He must have had parents, a mom or something.

  


Also, he was being incredibly smirky, he must have known the girls in his age group thought him to be something of a looker, and he sorta was. Jason was pretty proud of this costume his mom had pulled off, and he didn't look too bad. Juliette finally found Emily and Kate who had each dressed up as a fairy and a witch, respectively. Both girls cooed over her costume, then showed their own off. 

  


Maybe it was the costumes, but they gradually gravitated towards each other, at the food tables. Because if there was one thing they both loved, even if they didn't know it, it was food. Jason seemed pretty invested in a chocolate cupcake with red frosting until he turned to her.

  


"Nice party, huh?"

  


Juliette scoffed, not answering him. Jason gave her a lopsided smirk. "Come on, you were falling all over me last time we met."

  


Juliette almost crushed her cup. He was awfully flirtatious for a girl that was easily two years younger than him. 

  


"Thanks."

  


Jason paused, "What was that?" 

  


He definitely heard everything she had said but that didn't mean he wasn't gonna milk it. 

  


"Thank you for helping my friends and me." She gritted out, throwing him a quick glare.

  


Jason snickered, "You're welcome,  _ kid _ ." Briefly, he poked her tiara. "Nice costume, by the way, didn't know we were trying to match."

  


Juliette smacked his hand away, flushing in irritation at his attempts at flirting. Emily and Kate stole her away, thankfully. The night ended with everyone gathering in the room, circled around Juliette. Miss Adams lit the candles and instructed everyone to sing. As they sang, her eyes fell on his, looking almost golden under the firelight. Maybe it was the bad lighting or her incredible intake of sugar, but it looked like Todd was smiling.

  


"Happy birthday to you!" They all screamed as the song finished, and she blew out the candles. 

  


_ Pretty okay start to the school year. _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Welp, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
